Sayers, Dorothy Leigh

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.

Copyright The Columbia University Press

Dorothy Leigh Sayers (sā´ərz), 1893–1957, English writer, grad. Somerville College, Oxford, 1915. Taking first-class honors in medieval literature, she was one of the first women to receive an Oxford degree. For a time she worked as a copywriter in a London advertising agency—the setting for her Murder Must Advertise (1933). Her first detective novel was Whose Body? (1923), which marked the debut of her nobleman-detective, Lord Peter Wimsey; he reappeared in 10 novels including The Nine Tailors (1934) and Gaudy Night (1935). Her short stories featuring Wimsey were collected in Lord Peter (1972). Sayers is considered one of the masters of the detective story. Her novels are brilliantly plotted and written with great vitality, wit, and erudition. She later wrote religious dramas and theological essays, including Begin Here (1941) and Creed or Chaos? (1949). She translated most of Dante's Divine Comedy (1949, 1955) and wrote studies of Dante (1954 and 1957).

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Sayers, Dorothy L.

Sayers, Dorothy L. (1893–1957). British writer and Christian lay theologian. Her radio plays on the life of Jesus, The Man Born to be King (broadcast 1941–2) were remarkable for their character study, especially of Judas. In The Mind of the Maker (1941) she expounded the doctrine of the Trinity by analogy with a creative artist's Idea, Energy, and Power.

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Sayers, Dorothy L.

Sayers, Dorothy L. ( Leigh) (1893–1957) English novelist and playwright, best known for her detective fiction. Sayers' first novels featured Lord Peter Wimsey, a titled detective who appeared in ten books, including Whose Body? (1923) and Gaudy Night (1935). She later wrote religious dramas and was noted as a translator of Dante.

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